Penguin Lust A Production of The Boring Amateur

Penguin Lust A Production of The Boring Amateur Radio Club SG & SSI 1

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Methodology

DXpeditions We Used As Models • VK 0 IR – Heard Island, 1997 – 6 complete stations with Alpha amplifiers – 70, 000 lbs of gear • ZL 9 CI – Campbell Island, 1999 – 6 complete stations with Commander amplifiers – 9 yagis, 9 masts • D 68 C – Comoros Islands, 2001 – 26 corporate sponsors, 41 radio club sponsors – 26 operators, three weeks on the air • 6 Y 2 A Contest Expeditions to Jamaica – Vertical antennas only – no yagis SG & SSI 4

Simplified Financial Process • Up front funding by – Team members – An exclusive grant from northern California DX Foundation • No club, individual, equipment or QSL sponsors SG & SSI 5

Expedition Goals 1. Blitz-style operation, with quick setup and dismantle 2. Work a lot of guys 3. Live to tell the story 1. Be prepared to leave the island on 4 hours notice 2. Eliminate anything that doesn’t contribute directly to survival and to working lots of guys 1. Web sites 2. Web logs 3. Pilot stations 4. “Promises” 4. Achieve above with <1000 lbs of gear SG & SSI 6

Expedition Goals 5. Avoid living in this house SG & SSI 7

Penguins Micro-Lite Gear • Lightweight Honda generator – Looks like a vacuum cleaner – Weighs 13 kg (29 lbs) – Super quiet – 900 watts continuous duty SG & SSI 8

Penguins Micro-Lite Gear • Kenwood TS-50 – HF mobile rig – Weighs 3 kg – Introduced 10+ years ago – Rugged SG & SSI 9

Penguins Micro-Lite Gear • • ¼-Wave verticals ½-Wave vertical dipoles RG-8 X mini coax Band pass filters SG & SSI 10

Penguins Micro-Lite Gear • Dell Latitude XPi/133 laptop computers – “Disposable” – Compatible with K 6 STI Ri. TTY software + WF 1 B – CT version 9 for logging SSB and CW contacts – No network – Backups made hourly – Backups of backups made daily SG & SSI 11

Operating Strategy • Vertical antennas – You don’t have to be a propagation genius when you are using a vertical • Heavy shoveling • Recruit “big gun” ops SG & SSI 12

A “Big Gun” Operator inaction SG & SSI 13

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Falkland Islands South Georgia SG & SSI 19

South Georgia South Sandwich SG & SSI 20

South Georgia Southern Thule SG & SSI 21

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Where do Penguins come from? SG & SSI 26

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Gulf Quebec Florida ONLY!! SG & SSI 44

Hasta 10 estaciones iguales a estas para concursos en multi-multi SG & SSI 45

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Observations

Operating from both SG & SSI was difficult SG & SSI 54

Nobody Listens to the Radio Anymore Example session: • Call CQ on 21024, no answer • Continue calling CQ for 10 minutes with same result • W 1 JR/QRP answers with a good signal • 500 stations calling on next over SG & SSI 55

Pileup Management, aka Shoveling • Work guys as fast as possible • The more guys you work, the fewer are left to call • Going “by numbers” probably doesn’t pay off • Directional CQs may be counter-productive • Waiting is frustrating SG & SSI 56

Shoveling • The best situation for the DXer is to know where the DX is listening • The best situation for the DX is to receive one call at a time • Conclusion: at times the goals of the DXer and the DX are at odds SG & SSI 57

Introducing A Useful New Technique for Working DX: Listening • The DX often announces his RX frequency • You may miss this announcement if you are transmitting • Transmitting at the same time as the DX is not productive, and therefore is not recommended SG & SSI 58

Shoveling – CQ CQ DE VP 8 GEO UP 5 SG & SSI 59

Shoveling – TU VP 8 GEO QSX 042 UP 5 SG & SSI 60

Shoveling – TU VP 8 GEO DOWN 5 SG & SSI 61

Shoveling – This is VP 8 GEO listening 200 -210………. and 218 SG & SSI 62

Conclusions • We were not loud • Being is loud not essential, but it helps • We made 70, 000+ QSOs with 100 watts and verticals • Both the DXers and the expedition operators had to adapt their techniques • This would have been harder during a solar minimum SG & SSI 63

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